standing with an army
by reductomaxima
Summary: {miss peregrine's home for peculiar children} " - of course we helped," she snorted, running a hand through her untamed hair. "Come on, we're not complete douchebags." [in which Miss Peregrine made an ally of a fellow Ymbryne, Miss Hawk, and her children were all too happy to help defeat Barron]
1. prologue

" - for the first time, Miss Peregrine, you're late."

The woman, dressed entirely in a flattering shade of navy blue that flashed black under the sunlight, did not stiffen at the sudden exchange from behind her. Instead, she turned her head slightly, her face twisted with a small smile at the presence of the other Ymbryne. The two peculiars moved together on the edge of the hilltop, just outside the former woman's property and on the escape of her loop, and the woman who had spoken held out her hand to shake the other woman's long-fingered and thin, pale hand. Miss Peregrine took her hand and pulled her forward into her grip, hugging her for the first time since the beginning of their arrangement of the familiar daily stroll.

Behind Miss Peregrine, the twins, both dressed in thick white cloth suits, moved forward to join the hug out of habit. Beside them, Fiona, Hugh and Claire were waiting patiently for their routine to begin once more.

"Where are your children, Miss Hawk?" asked Miss Peregrine, frowning. "This is most backwards - "

" - we were attacked last night, Miss Peregrine," replied the other Ymbryne, Miss Hawk, gravely. "All of the children managed to escape, naturally, and they're staying with Miss Raven in Blackpool, not far from Miss Avocet and her children, for the instance in which I can gather our belongings and secure another loop."

"Were any of them injured?" inquired Miss Peregrine in concern, one hand straying to the back of Claire's neck soothingly.

"Unfortunately, I was rendered unconscious in the beginnings of the battle," said Miss Hawk regretfully, shaking her head. "The hollows that attacked were under the false pretence that I was the main threat. When I awoke, I found the carefully marked outlines of four deceased hollows, and my children were upstairs, packing everything. When I checked all of them for injury following our departure from the loop, it was described to me that my three oldest - Benjamin, Theodora and Lucas - had managed to defeat _four_ hollows without assistance, while my twins, both ten, kept the younger children safe."

"Yes, but were any injured?" Miss Peregrine said sternly, frowning, brow furrowed with concern and worry.

"Theodora's legs have been badly wounded, it appears she attempted to distract the hollows while the children escaped," said the other Ymbryne. "She was thrown into several walls and windows, and was used as a battering ram at one point, and when I found her, she had to be carried out of the loop. Lucas' shoulder had been popped out of its socket, and Benjamin was covered in scrapes and bruises."

Miss Peregrine swallowed and her hands came together at her waist. Miss Hawk watched her carefully.

"Does this mean that we are all in danger?" she inquired, almost dreading the answer. Miss Hawk's lips thinned.

"I fear the hollows and the Wights are growing more desperate, and with that more powerful," she replied cautiously. "I have seen several white-eyed people, and read many articles from other Ymbrynes on the sightings across the entire world, but in my travel here I have yet to see a Wight or hollow here."

Nodding, Miss Peregrine smiled tightly.

"However, I do believe it might be in your best interest to move the loop, even if it is just on the other side of the island," said Miss Hawk. "Despite your particular attachment to your current loop, in the interest of your children, and in the lives of those you're tasked to take care of, I do urge you to move your loop, or at least throw them off by creating another one somewhere else."

Miss Peregrine swallowed. "Until I am certain that there have been Wights sighed nearby, I will not force my children to move unnecessarily," she said crisply.

"I imagined you would say that," said Miss Hawk, smiling slightly. "In the case of an attack, you and your children are more than welcome to find us. My loop will be somewhere in Blackpool, nearby Miss Avocet's own loop. Should you need me, my children and I will always help."

"Thank you, Rebecca," said Miss Peregrine, smiling slightly.

"You need only ask, Alma," replied Miss Hawk with a smile.

Then, with a whirl of her black dress, the Ymbryne left the ground entirely - and soared into the air, taking the form of a large, broad-winged hawk.


	2. miss avocet

Miss Peregrine had been acting oddly since the arrival of the wounded avocet. There hadn't been an instance in which she had been seen without the wounded bird in her arms for more than a few hours, and the children of the household, perhaps less observant than the older ones, had been more than a little confused at her sudden concern for an injured bird. However, Jake knew that the bird wrapped in the woman's arms was more than a bird - and that the bird was, in actual fact, a woman, particularly a peculiar, known as an Ymbryne (of the same species as their very own Miss Peregrine). Jake and an array of the older children - Emma, Enoch and Olive - often spotted her feeding the bird, muttering soothing words to it in an effort to assist the bird.

" - hurry, Miss Peregrine, Miss Avocet's awake!"

The Ymbryne, who had been partway through explaining the queries that had been bothering Jake since his arrival into the peculiar household, shot up from her seat and sprinted into the other room. Jake followed quickly, Olive just behind him, and when he came into the doorway, he spotted the woman who must have been the avocet, sitting upright on the loveseat, talking swiftly and animatedly to the wide eyed children.

In an instant, Miss Peregrine was sitting beside Miss Avocet. Miss Avocet wasn't tall, but she was broad-shouldered and plump, with a motherly, careworn face and salt and pepper hair. Jake felt as if he could trust her from the moment that he spotted her frantic movements and dark, imploring eyes.

Jake listened intently to what the woman said. Her children had been murdered, all the peculiars deceased and devoured, and it was through pure luck that she herself managed to escape the chaos; the Wights and hollows had invaded her loop and the nearby Blackpool tower, where they intended to continue experimentation to turn them all immortal for good, thanks to their recent feast and collection, and full inventory of Ymbryne peculiars. Meanwhile, hollows were nearby, and Jake was certain that dread was bubbling in his stomach, the ever growing threat of death growing with every moment he remained there; but there was also a spike of fear, of courage, because his friends, his newfound friends and allies, were to be slaughtered if they were found.

That was something that Jake could not stand, not after losing his grandfather.

"What of Rebecca Hawk and her children?" implored Miss Peregrine urgently, when the younger children had been shepherded from the room. Enoch, Emma and Olive, who had been lingering in the doorway waiting for Jake, froze.

"I do not know, Miss Peregrine," replied Miss Avocet quietly, remorsefully. "I fear they have been targeted next. But Miss Peregrine, they are powerful, more so than any other group of peculiars than I have found elsewhere, and I know from information passed to me that they are more than capable of holding their own against the likes of hollows."

"But you don't know?" Enoch demanded, arms folded, brow furrowed. "You don't know if - ?"

"No, my dear boy," agreed Miss Avocet. "Only due time will tell."

Jake frowned when Enoch cursed and stormed from the room, shortly followed by a pale-faced Olive, who looked like she was about to start shaking. He turned to ask the two Ymbrynes about their harsh reaction, only to find Miss Peregrine looking as if she was about to begin crying. Her face was pale and drawn, more so than usual, and his chest felt tight and his skin flushed and a sense of awkwardness gathered across his brain.

" - children, you're to pack up everything you own," said Miss Peregrine, eerily calm, when she came to the doorway. "You must only take what is of importance, and afterwards it's sandwiches and off to bed. We leave first thing in the morning tomorrow."

There was not another word shared. Jake felt the overwhelming need to leave.


	3. not quite understanding

" - what's the deal with Miss Hawk and her kids?" Jake asked curiously, standing in the doorway of the room.

Emma jumped, her lips tugging downwards as she turned to face him. Her entire face seemed hard, furious, and even her large blue eyes seemed to fill with fire as she looked at him with the kind of loathing he imagined she'd feel for the hollow that killed Victor, or Barron himself. He was, for a moment, taken aback, and resigned himself to staring at the periwinkle blue comforter on her bed, and the suitcase being packed atop it. Meanwhile, her eyes softened when she took in the nervous fidgeting of his right hand and the slight tap of his right foot on the creaky floorboards beneath him, and she sighed to herself. He reminded her so forcefully of his grandfather, Abe, that she found she couldn't be angry with him, and treated him the way she'd treated Abe.

She turned back to packing. "Miss Hawk is a friend of Miss Peregrine's we used to visit when we were small," she replied after a long, tense pause. "Her children are dear friends of ours. You can understand that it's nerve-wracking, the idea that they're dead or injured."

Jake swallowed. "It seemed like something more than that," he said hesitantly. "I mean - Enoch looked - he looked like he cared about it, and Olive was shaking when she left. I don't want to pry, but it seems like there's something more going on, at least with those two. I've never seen Enoch like that."

"Enoch has a side of him that rarely anyone gets to see," Emma replied bitterly, returning to her wardrobe for a pink dress and a pair of white slippers. "One of the other children - her name is Theodora, but he calls her Theo - she's one of the very few people who gets to see the Enoch that cares about anything or anyone other than himself. He denies that he likes her constantly, calls her annoying and stupid to her face, but she sticks around, because she knows him better than anyone else."

"And what about Olive?" asked Jake cautiously. "She looked like she was about to cry."

"His name is Lucas, but he's Luke to all of us," she said. "He's Olive's other half. They finish each others' sentences and everything. Enoch and Olive hang out together to fill the void when we don't get to see Miss Hawk and her children."

Jake nodded in acceptance, but he didn't quite understand. Since his arrival, Enoch had been bitter, harsh and loathed him for no reason that Jake could think of. Olive had been distant even when she defended him from Enoch, and dinner had been tense with her dark gaze on the side of his head. He couldn't think of Enoch actually liking someone, let alone being inseparable with them - and Olive was far too cool and calm to be someones other half. But perhaps it was because he was new - because they didn't know or understand him, and he in time would get to know them better.

"Why would they be hurt? Miss Avocet said they're powerful - "

" - even the most skilled warriors die in battle," Emma snapped scathingly, shoving her suitcase shut with a loud bang.

He stared at her.

Emma sighed, before her tense shoulders slumped. "I think it's time we help the other children pack," she said firmly, not looking at him. "And Jake?"

He paused and looked at her, nodding inquisitively.

"It would be in your best interests if you didn't talk to Olive or Enoch, or Bronwyn, now that I think about it, about Miss Hawk. They won't be as understanding as I am."


	4. letters of assurance

He did as Emma asked. Jake never questioned Olive, Enoch or Bronwyn about Miss Hawk and her children - in fact, he didn't find the strength of mind and the nerve to ask even Miss Peregrine or Emma. He never had the chance to, either, what with the chaos of packing, and the aftermath.

The children had never been sent to bed; they'd never been allowed their sandwiches. In fact, just as Miss Peregrine was instructing Claire and Emma to begin making sandwiches for their 'dinner', Jake had returned, with Barron on his tail and a whole new agenda in mind. Now, he wasn't so bothered about Miss Rebecca Hawk and her children, or how confusing the peculiar household seemed to be; he was preoccupied with scrambling thoughts of how to protect the other children, how to fight Barron off when no one else could, how to keep the children together and safe when Barron took Miss Peregrine as one of the hostage Ymbrynes.

When Barron had gone, and the promised hollow was on its way, Miss Avocet, who had previously been reassuring the younger children - particularly Claire, the twins and Bronwyn - pulled him aside, along with Emma, Enoch and Olive, to talk privately, away from the ears of the others.

"At first chance you get, you're to leave, and you're to take the children with you," she said firmly, her arms folded and, for the first time, a stern expression daunting her careworn face. "You're not enough to hold off more than one hollow, and even with the added help of being able to see them, you're not enough. Children - at first chance you get, you're to contact Miss Hawk in Blackpool, and to acquire the help of the peculiars living in her loop."

"But how?" Enoch arched an eyebrow, lips twisting in a sneer. "We don't know if they're even alive - "

" - yes, you do," Miss Avocet said. "I have recently acquired a particular piece of information, a letter from Miss Hawk delivered to Miss Peregrine and I shortly after I awoke - "

"I want to see it," Olive said immediately, holding out one leather-gloved hand.

Miss Avocet looked away for a moment, watching the other children closing all the doors and windows. Millard and Horace came running in with Miss Peregrine's crossbow and armfuls of sharp and heavy gardening tools in time for Bronwyn to kick the couch straight at the door, slamming it shut and locking the door that couldn't be locked. She hesitated, before slipping her hand into the pocket of her long beige dress, and producing a letter.

Enoch snatched it the moment she had pulled it from her pocket, unfolding it with slightly shaking fingers, eyes quickly scanning the page.

 _"Dear Miss Peregrine,_

 _I am very much alive, as are my children. As has once occurred, we were attacked in our new loop, by no more than eleven hollows. They seem to have learned from the last time, in which all four hollows were killed; the children fought them off once more, and not without injury, though it seems, despite the odds of battle, they have escaped with lesser injuries. Theodora has once again been walking, despite her previous injury to both her legs, and Luke has been managing well despite his broken arm. The children are now taking shelter in Miss Avocet's vacant loop, and it is due to be reset at 4:30 today._

 _Meanwhile, I have decided to try my best to scout the location in which the captured Ymbrynes have been taken. As I'm certain you're aware, they're in the basement of Blackpool tower, not far from the pier, where the children are hiding._

 _If I do not return, my friend, please reset my loop. I fear the children will not survive the night._

 _My deepest regards, Miss Rebecca Hawk."_

Olive slumped with relief, and Emma put an arm around hers to support her. Enoch, meanwhile, sighed and rubbed his thumb over his jaw, tucking the letter safely in the pocket of his trousers - much to Miss Avocet's chagrin.

"I'm off, children," said Miss Avocet, swallowing. "Be safe."


	5. miss peregrine

When Miss Alma Peregrine awoke from the slumber induced by the thick spray of chloroform, she was very much alone.

The cage that her bird form was trapped within was deposited carelessly outside a large wooden door, which remained bolted shut above her. She didn't have enough room to transform into her humane form, and even if she did, there was the unsolvable factor of the missing key necessary to open the cage to allow her escape; so, within the confines of a small bird cage, left abandoned in the middle of the hallway, Miss Peregrine was left alone with thoughts of worry for her children and the dreaded anticipation of her unknown fate.

Her mind wandered in the particular direction of the children she had sacrificed herself to protect. It wasn't something she had done with much deliberation - the situation was not something she had planned for, and despite her calculating mind and quick-thinking, she hadn't been able to see another option. In the case of her children, and their safety, she would always be the sacrifice. There was no question of it.

She wondered if they had been eaten by the hollow. The thought brought a sense of despair through her heart, which clenched painfully, her talons tightening on the taunting perch.

It was humiliating, being trapped there, in bird form, with no idea of how her children were fairing, no way of escape, and no knowledge of the future awaiting her. Here she was, perched uselessly inside a small cage meant for birds, a woman scorned by the stubborn nagging of uselessness.

Her mind then wandered along the path of the letter she had received not long before her capture. It was written in the hand of her dearest friend and closest ally, describing the woman's plight, the children trapped within a tourist attraction on the end of Blackpool pier awaiting her return - and she wasn't entirely sure if her friend wasn't in the same predicament in another hallway, trapped within a bird cage and awaiting uncertain fate.

" - what a pretty little birdie," cooed a familiar voice.

Had Miss Peregrine been human, her jaw would have clenched and her eyes would have all but popped out of her skull with the rage she was feeling. Her feathers ruffled as she turned her head slowly to face Barron, who was crouched behind her, a teasing, malicious smirk tainting his face. If she was able, she would have attacked him.

"What's a beautiful thing like yourself doing out here?" he continued teasingly, his fingers tracing the bars of the cage. She lunged forward and attacked his fingers, wrenching the fingernail of the middle finger of his left hand straight off with her sharp beak.

He yelped, drawing his hand away, before smiling wickedly.

"You're a fighter, Miss Peregrine," he taunted, his smile widening at her clawing at the cage. "So much like your dear friend - I believe her name was Miss Hawk?"

Miss Peregrine froze.

"I thought that would halt your annoying screeching," Barron snapped, roughly gripping the handle at the top of the cage and wrenching her up off the floor. "She managed to escape several times before we finally trapped her in that cage with all the other Ymbrynes - much like you, she's always managed to evade my capture, along with those pesky children of hers. She and her kids have caused too much trouble to go unnoticed."

She squawked, ruffling her feathers, and her mind flitted to the children - had they been found in the shack? Were they meeting the same fate as Miss Avocet's children?

"If I found them, they'd suffer," Barron growled, shaking the cage, one hand on the bolt of the door. "They'd suffer more than yourself, I assure you, Miss Peregrine."

Miss Peregrine would have attacked him had she been able. She would have torn him apart by hand had she not been trapped. She would have done it with no remorse, no afterthought, and she would have killed anyone relentlessly, anyone who came between them.

"I did say the same to Miss Rebecca Hawk," said Barron wickedly, his grin growing as her large eyes flashed to him. "She was irate, fierce, and she fought more than any other Ymbryne - rather attached to her children, I suppose."

And he pushed open the bolted door, slammed it open and walked in with purposeful steps. He strode into the room, and when Miss Peregrine's eyes adjusted to the dark lighting and the minimal sunlight streaming in from the skylights, she found herself in an oddly circular room; around the edges, there were several tables of chemicals, experiments prepared to be carried through, and in the middle, a larger bird cage.

Inside, was a hawk, a finch, a blue bird and a robin. The hawk began screeching, wings batting madly at the sight of the peregrine falcon, and the hawk lurched forward to bash against the bars of the bird cage.

"Now, now, Miss Hawk, do calm down," Barron said patronisingly, "your friend is unharmed. For now."

The moment she was allowed from the cage, she flew from the cage and viciously bit him - on the nose. He yelled in pain and staggered back, and she flew for the cage, scratching at the bars, because she couldn't - she wouldn't - leave without her dearest friend, who was squawking madly, wings fluttering.

The cage door slammed open and Miss Peregrine was wrestled within its confines, and barely managed to escape the door slamming on her tail feathers as she landed beside Miss Hawk, who immediately nestled beside her.

"Just wait, my dears, you will be most useful to me," Barron smirked, though blood gushed down from his nostrils to his chin.

And as the door shut, Miss Peregrine found herself veiled in darkness, tormented by the idea that her children could, at that moment, be dead.


	6. understanding without words

Miss Hawk was not a woman to be messed with.

Outwardly, the woman seemed to radiate an eccentric air, but she had a steely jaw and a firm face, and when she smiled, her lips were thin and pressed. With every step she took her tall heels clacked upon the surface of which she was walking, and when her fingers clasped anything her nails seemed to appear longer.

She was an extremely powerful Ymbryne, and was skilled enough to track time. Of course, she cared less about promptness and appearance than Miss Peregrine, a dear friend, did, but she didn't disregard it entirely, either.

While her black clothing, pinned back brown hair and sharp, almost black eyes daunted people around her, and those who did not know her were often afraid, she was a woman who would do anything and everything for the children she dedicated her life to take care of.

While Miss Peregrine kept up the appearance of a teacher rather than a friend or mother, Miss Hawk was much more than a teacher or carer. She nurtured her children, who, in turn, returned affection, and in her small household, the three words 'I love you' were not scarce or untold. Her children grew to be people who were strong, stubborn, calm and skilled, and learned from a young age how to protect themselves.

Miss Hawk never did allow her priorities to wonder. Of course, being a married woman, and a mother herself, it was often believed by other Ymbrynes that the children in her care were not her priority.

"Family is my priority," she would say, without thinking. "My children are as much as a family to me as my husband and son, and I will treat them the same way I would treat any other child. How I raise my children is none of your concern."

Miss Peregrine raised her children with a firm, steady hand, and her household was based upon a foundation of rules, regulations and respect. Her children were treated equally, and for the same crime, would be handed the same punishment, regardless of reason. Their schedule ran like clockwork; sharp and prompt, with no room for spontaneity or frivolity. They were raised the way they would have been when they were young, back in the forties with their families, despite their advancements into a more developed world.

However, Miss Hawk preferred more modern methods. Each year, she created a loop somewhere else, both for safety reasons and for pure curiosity. While she found an appropriate place for the loop, the children would be allowed a substantial amount of money, head into the nearest shopping centre, and purchase more updated clothing, new technology for the house, and decoration for their bedrooms, and once they returned to the loop, they would be educated by their new technology on the advancements of the world since their loop had last been updated.

Their travels allowed them to see the world - they'd lived in Italy, Japan, Wales, France, India, and countless other places. Miss Hawk had even allowed them to live in an Egyptian slum, Manshiet, for a year, when the children expressed the desire to do some good, and bring some advancements, health and help to those who need it, because it allowed them humility and understanding of the awful world they lived in.

Miss Peregrine was perhaps the only woman who understood her methods of caring for the children; while the other woman didn't practice them herself, she was intelligent and empathetic, and treated her with the respect any mother caring for orphaned children deserves.

Their friendship was not a tentative one, nor were they particularly close. Both were allowed their privacy, their secrets, and neither had ever attempted to discipline the other's ward, or discuss the methods of properly raising them.

Instead, they talked of the weather. They talked of the scenery, and their plans, their lives, and the other would listen amicably and with a careful, unbiased ear. Had they been awful communicators or listeners, there might not have been such a strong bond between them, but it had been seventy years since they met, and they understood each other more than the other would ever know or comprehend.

And sitting there, humiliated, together trapped within a cage like the animals they shifted into, there came an unspoken vow between them.

They would do whatever was necessary to ensure their children were safe.


	7. relief

"Enoch!"

Relief shot through him like a bolt of electricity, so powerful and consuming that his bones seemed to rattle with it; his neck snapped up and, ignoring the inquisitive glances from the other children and Jake's infuriating demands, he stood up and looked around sharply.

There she was - at the end of the pier, staring at him. Her hair, a tawny brown mess of curls, mussed by the wind, had been dragged up into a haphazard ponytail, and her electric blue eyes were sharp and relieved as she strode towards him; he found himself scanning her figure for injuries - though her movement and the clothes flapping in the wind made it more than difficult - and felt his mood sour and worry pang in his chest when he spotted the slight limp, particularly in her right leg, and the cuts, bruises and gashes littering her tanned skin.

She reached him within moments, lunging forward and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

Normally, he would have hesitated. His arms would have seemed tense and mechanical as they wrapped around her waist.

But something was different this time.

He grappled with the back of her shirt, bunching it up and lifting her clean off her feet, catching her thighs. Enoch buried his face in her hair and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes with the relief and the concern and the sudden burst of _awe_ that shot through him. She clutched at his shoulders, and instead of squeaking something about being unstable as she might've done in any other situation, she instead cuddled closer, breathing shakily.

"You're okay?" he asked gruffly, setting her down, reluctant to stop touching her.

"Yeah," Theo breathed, hands settling on his upper arms. "Bird, I was so worried about you."

"Don't worry about me," Enoch said firmly. "I'm fine. I'm always fine."


	8. assemblance

For anyone to lay eyes upon the group assembled at the foot of the pier, it would have been a sight to see. Jake stood at the helm of the group, thinking quickly, eyes surveying the peculiars gathered in front of him; Enoch, Emma and Olive had gathered their own household nearest to them, so that Jake could clearly see and analyse Miss Hawk's children.

Standing nearest him was a tall tawny-haired girl with electric blue eyes. She was holding the hand of a small boy, about five or six, whose eyes were an unorthodox dark amber colour. Beside him were two identical girls with white blonde hair and luminous eyes, and behind them stood a boy built like a bear, well over six feet tall and appearing incredibly strong and brawny. To his left was a willowy, waifish pair, a girl and a boy, who seemed to be linked permanently, their sides pressed tightly against each other, hands interlinked and faces constantly pressed together.

" - you're Abe's grandson?" inquired the tawny haired girl, arching an eyebrow. She smiled then. "I can see the resemblance."


End file.
